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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

I am truly sorry that you have more opportunity to be saintly than most of us :-)

Thank you for this. It made me smile. And also, I think I will use a variation on your quote the next time someone tells me that "I have their admiration", or something else overly saccharine like that. It's just a question of opportunity .

I am truly sorry that you have more opportunity to be saintly than most of us :-)

Thank you for this. It made me smile. And also, I think I will use a variation on your quote the next time someone tells me that "I have their admiration", or something else overly saccharine like that. It's just a question of opportunity .

Yup. If I passed a drowning child, I'd probably jump in and try to save him.

I'm eternally grateful that I come across very few drowning children.

You're waking up! Well done! Let's see if we can nudge the rest of this forum out of its fluffy-bunny mentality too. The global standard of piano-playing can only benefit!

Sorry to disappoint you, but I think that when it comes to you and me disagreeing about the usefulness and/or advisability of the piano-related encouragement being strewn around here, I've always been wide awake.

I stand by what I said on that point the first time around: this thread has a very specific purpose. People come here, not to receive an objective critique of their week-to-week piano-related achievements, but in order to have their tentative hunches regarding what they may have accomplished this week reinforced. For those whose primary purpose in learning to play the piano is to become a very highly skilled pianist, that may not be the best approach (although, I don't know, I haven't read any research to tell me one way or the other). But for those who are learning simply because it strikes them as a good way to spend a retirement, or because it's a productive and fun way to spend their leisure time or, like me, in an effort to get over crippling performance anxiety, this thread as it exists today is a valuable motivational tool.

Now, let's stop hijacking it for purposes other than those it was intended for. And yes, I will freely acknowledge, I was the one who started the hijacking, by talking about something that hasn't got anything to do with piano *or* achievement. Nevertheless, if you want to continue this discussion, I cordially invite you to PM me .

Saranoya - I won't re-hijack the thread - but let me just say I really like your attitude and your determination. Sorry your recital didn't go as well as you had hoped - but (though I can not speak from experience) I'm told that the more you do it the easier and better it gets.

My ATOWeekend is that I managed to get a recording done (Impertinence) and posted in the Piano Bar.

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

I see some new names added to the AOTW tribe. Welcome to the best thread on the Piano World forums.

Week 55: As is often the case, after a big push for performance day there is a let down. After two performance weeks in a row, I look for new pieces. One AOTW is writing down The Passage of Time. It is more a sketch than a transcription, but with a recording it is enough to reconstruct the piece.

I continue to work with the ear training tablet app, and a sight reading app. I am on a third book of sheet music from the public library for reading out loud. I have decided I am not a fan of the Hal Leonard series, but unfortunately 80% of the sheet music anthologies seem to be from that publisher. It feels like glacial if any progress in both areas. The promise is that over time I will get better.

I keep working on Canon in D. After all these weeks, the simple version still feels pokey (a bad thing). I keep playing The Passage of Time. I am of half of mind to record it at home, but the recording from the live performance has an immediacy that a recording after many takes won't be able to match (and it won't have the applause).

Saranoya, I second Cheryl. I was going to write something earlier but I was almost late for my class. I admire your fortitude and I am always impressed with what you have accomplished in spite of your physical condition. You do heck of a lot more than most of people who does not have any health problems. I look at your post, the way you address each & everyone and completeness of your analysis of your day to day practice. I only know you through the forum but l believe you are a high achiever. Keep up your good work. You will succeed anything you put your mind and soul to it. Of course there's some bumps along the way (like the recital you are talking about), but you will overcome and succeed in the end. The best encouragement I got from my teacher is "success in performance is earned with 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration". You may get negative comments and positive comments from others along the way, just ignore the negative ones and focus positive ones.

Saranoya, not to futher derail the topic but I wanted to add my voice to the other sage voices here. I found your post about your recent recital inspiring, I was having rough day dealing with my own health issues, so I logged on pianoworld and it brighted my day to read about someone else on a similar piano journey. I am glad the Beethoven piece went well for you, I started that piece over the summer, now I keep looking wistfully at the third movement. I know it will be sometime, but ohhh I can't wait to delve into learning that part. I know a week after starting the third movement I will be wondering why I don't fall in love with easier pieces.

Now to the achievement of the week, Chopin's Waltz in A minor finally sounds half way decent, it was so lovely tonight. It had such a sway and lilt to it, the pedaling is still a work in progress. After playing the waltz, I have to admit there was wild celebratory polka around the room. This piece has really helped me gain more precision in my usage of the damper pedal. It has improved my playing of not only Beethoven's 14th piano sonata, but my Bach, and Satie pieces. The other day I dusted off my copy of his Gnossienne no. 1 and it sounded so clear and mysterious. I was just reveling that this music was coming from my piano; to be able to play a piece all the way through, instead of working on indivdual parts, made me feel like more of a pianist.

I have not posted here in a while. My achievement is that I have made very good progress with my latest Joplin piece, The Non Pariel. It's not ready for a recording, but I can play all the way through......as long as I don't let my mind drift! I am amazed to watch professional pianist play......my mind has a tendency to wonder off into never-never land when I play....usually right in the middle of a part that I know like the back of my hand, causing me to come to a complete stop!

Seriously, I'd like to think that most people do the very best they can with whatever life throws at them. And I think you are a case in point.

To the rest of you who expressed your support: thank you. That helped me regain a little bit of the perspective I seemed to have lost.

Originally Posted By: IreneAdler

After playing the waltz, I have to admit there was wild celebratory polka around the room.

As well there should have been! I just got started on that one, though I don't know that I'll stick with it yet ... we'll see. It's a beautiful piece of music, that's for sure. Congrats on getting it down!

Originally Posted By: Michael Taylor

My achievement is that I have made very good progress with my latest Joplin piece, The Non Pariel. It's not ready for a recording, but I can play all the way through......as long as I don't let my mind drift!

I sometimes have trouble with a drifting mind, too. My solution has been to try to 'visualize' the music, if that makes any sense. I know it sounds crazy, since if you want to 'see' music, all you have to do is look at the score. But a score, once I know a piece very well, becomes nothing but a distraction to me. So, what I try to do, instead of thinking about that load of laundry that's waiting to be done, or about how my piano really needs a tune-up, is think about the 'story' behind the music as I play. It can be any story -- you don't have to know the composer's innermost thoughts in order to do this. Just make it up as you go along. This has the added benefit of making it easier to put expression into the music, too. Mind you, if your teacher is in the camp that insists you should adhere to the score, and only the score, when it comes to dynamics, this might be bad advice -- because it's unlikely that whatever interpretation you come up with this way will match exactly what's written on the page. But it works for me, anyway!

Hello achievers, you've all made fantastic progress since I was last here. I need to read back over it all and catch up properly. I have had some big upheavals and havent really been able to practice for a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to getting back to it all and have missed checking in here and writing in my practice diary.

My piano and I are now in our new house and I am avoiding men for a while while I focus on practising. So my achievement is coming through this in one piece and being able to practice again. Piano is really quite life changing I have found. I never would have managed it all without piano lessons - firstly for giving me the confidence to set out on my own, and secondly for having something to get me through the stress of it all.

My U3 and I will be just fine.

Good to hear Piano is a positive force in your life Toastie. Wishing you sunshine and happiness in your new home.

This week...finally got to play Sonatina op 36 no 1 by M. Clementi down to a level that my piano teacher will be proud of =) It's my very first Sonatina and I must say, it's been a frustrating couple of weeks learning it. My brain definitely works faster than my fingers and it was hard to keep up with the speed that this piece requires.

_________________________
Adult beginner since January 2013. My only regret is that I didn't learn sooner.

EdwardianPIano you always know just the right thing to say! You are one of my favourite piano world members you know, I keep meaning to tell you that and forgetting.

Thanks also SwissMS and casinitaly for your kind words. I feel as though I have woken up from a long sleep. Ready to live my life now and enjoy practising.

Lots of piano love to you all. We're only alive for a short time, might as well spend it getting really good at piano!!!

Toastie, I am touched, thank you. That means a lot.I am fond of you and your posts too. I have just had a little practise of Joy To The World then found myself playing a little melody on Piano that belongs to just us. It was in C Major and uplifted me. I was playing fast different rhythms that I hadn't done before. I bet there is some musical term for how I pressed the keys but as a plonky beginner I don't know what they are. It was bit like trills but not quite. Was a bit like this: ( I was doing that with C major chord in left hand and some random melody right hand).

The piano bit is from 4:45 on the video. The band are Parachutes from Iceland. Sadly they are not playing together any more. They recorded an album and gave it away free online (mp3). They played for joy not money. I love them. The little guy on guitar -Alex- is the partner of Jonsi from Sigur Ros.

This week...finally got to play Sonatina op 36 no 1 by M. Clementi down to a level that my piano teacher will be proud of =) It's my very first Sonatina and I must say, it's been a frustrating couple of weeks learning it. My brain definitely works faster than my fingers and it was hard to keep up with the speed that this piece requires.

That's good Elle. I had the privilege of hearing Clementi played on Emily Bronte's big tall upright piano a couple of years ago. Was lovely.

ElleC- Wow! You have made amazing progress in only three months! Congratulations on your first recital. To be playing Clementi 36.1 in such a short time is also an achievement. Way to go!

Wisebuff- It sounds like you had a great vacation, but I bet it is good to be back to your piano.

Casinitaly -Congratulations on your post to the Piano Bar. Your "Impertinence" was very well played. Careful though, I am finding posting to the Piano Bar addictive fun! Once you get over Red Dot Syndrome, I think regular recording is really helpful for piano development.

Saranoya - Your Burgmuller post to the Piano Bar was well done as well. So - the recital may not have gone as well as you would have hoped, but you proved that you have this piece mastered.

Sand Tiger - I agree about the let down after a performance. It is good that you are transcribing your composition so that it does not slip away. I bet it will get better and better as you develope it further over time.

FarmGirl (your quote) "success in performance is earned with 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration". Boy isn't that the truth. I guess I need to perspire more!

IreneAdler - I love Chopin's Waltz in A Minor. Congratulations on playing well enough to make you get up and dance!

Michael Taylor - I think "focus" is one of the hardest things to develop to play music well. It sounds like you are making progress.

EdwardianPiano - It sounds like you have been doing some ear training/improv work. The piano playing in the the link you provided was very ethereal, very beautiful.

My piano teacher is on vacation this week - heading for the the warmth of Sicily, leaving our Swiss snowy world. So, I am on my own. Our last two lessons have been "you can do better than this" kind of lessons. So, I have been doing some very disciplined practice the last couple of weeks, and it is starting to pay off. We all know that we should practice slowly and error free, but it is easier said than done. I have always done it when learning a new piece, but as I bring it up to tempo, I get sloppy.

One of the things that I love about playing piano, is learning how to learn. One point I remember from my research is "It take 7 times played correctly to learn something, but it takes 35 times played correctly to erase an error." I take this to heart in the learning phase, but I haven't in the developing and polishing stage. I have traditionally pushed the tempo too soon. Hence, I start to have problems. So, I set my metronome at 50 (about 2/3's speed) to the quarter and played the Arabesque through, with no rhythm or note errors. Then I played without the metro, counting out loud. It worked. Enforcing slow play, ever when I think I can play faster has really helped cement accuracy. I have applied this technique to the Nocturne fast parts as well, and they are beginning to flow with less effort at tempo. For these I have slowly increased tempo on the metro to the point that errors start to creep in. Then I back it off and stay there for a couple of days and then start increasing again. It is working well. So, my AOTW is focussed, disciplined practice. It is paying off!

Sand Tiger, I like your weekly updates. I think writing down your piece is a good idea for several reasons. If you like it as it is, this way you’ll not stray from the plot so to speak! You’ll have it handy if you put it aside for a while – and you can share it with folks !

Working at the reading can feel like a slog at times. While I don’t remember the learning process with the treble clef, I know it felt like forever with the bass clef –and then, almost from one day to the next, there it was. Now I just find the notes with more than 2 ledger lines a bit tricky. I’m sure recording at home seems flat after public performance, but if you record just to benchmark your progress --- and also to give yourself a “reality check” you’ll find it useful. I have noted several times in the past that a recording tells me I’m not doing nearly as well as I thought I was!!!

FarmGirl – interesting comment about ignoring the negative---- I agree with you. If we have played poorly, we KNOW we have done so, and we’re far more inclined to beat ourselves up about it than we are to give ourselves a pat on the back when we do well. Of course there’s a difference between a negative comment and a suggestion on how to improve what went wrong. That sort of feedback is to be treasured!

IreneAdler – I love that waltz. I have to say it was the piece that got me using the pedal too. I still don’t have it up to anywhere near performance level, in fact I put it aside for quite a while, but it is definitely on my “will play and record” list.

Michael Taylor – I’m listening to the Nonpareil right now. I see that all the recordings on youtube are over 4 minutes. I know I wouldn’t have the stamina to handle a piece of that length at the moment. It is a very pretty tune. I wish I had a suggestion for helping with the focus. Something Mr. SuperHunky said sticks in my mind. Try harder. It sounds too basic and we can ask –but how? And the idea, I think is “just do it”. In my own experience since that discussion I’ve found that by going more slowly I give myself more time to focus.I think Saranoya’s idea of visualizing could be helpful too --- let’s see!

ElleC – Congrats on getting the Clementi up to a decent speed. I’ve yet to do that satisfactorily, but it is another piece (all three movements!!!) that is on my list of “I really want to play this well”.

EdwardianPiano: I think what you were doing might be called an arpeggiated chord aka a broken chord. It sounds pretty, doesn’t it? You see it in notation with a wiggly vertical line in front of the chord.

SwissMS – I’m a bit worried about keeping up with the PianoBar!!! I thought this thread was hard to keep up with – that one is deadly. I do want to submit another piece “Melody” – and then I think I’m going to re-do a number of my earlier pieces to get a nice collection of improved performances!I am working at the slow disciplined practice too….My Heller piece has some tricky (for me) bits and the only way I can get rolling on them is to go ultra-slow. Where are you visiting in Scicily? We did a week there years ago and loved it.

I don’t have any achievement--- probably because I just posted the other day!I am using a new-to-me technique for practicing my scales. My teacher has always suggested not playing them in order, but randomly – and rather than try to decide which one I’m going to play, I made little cards with the letter of the scale and shuffle them, then turn them over one at a time, play the scale 2 octaves, then the arpeggio. Not my idea – I saw it on a video of someone who was preparing for an exam.

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

My aotw is that I have a new job starting after the summer as a cook in a restaurant. It is located between the concert hall and a shop selling sheet music. In the middle of the restaurant, there is a grand piano.

My aotw is that I have a new job starting after the summer as a cook in a restaurant. It is located between the concert hall and a shop selling sheet music. In the middle of the restaurant, there is a grand piano.

Somehow I feel there at home.

PaperClip -that's super! Sounds like a wonderful setting in which to work!!

SwissMS...ah, sorry I was mistaken. It would have been fun to share Sicilian experiences!

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

I was practicing op 27-2 Chopin nocturn. I divided the piece into 9 sections and tackling with the piece section by section. I am at the section #2 thinking "I'm getting the hang of this. Then.. my work cell phone rang. It was about 9:30 PM and from my direct report. I screamed on mute "Oh shoot (actually I said much worse). I did it again!". Yes I missed my call with my business partners in India. I felt horrible. Everyone thought i went to bed and forgot about it. So embarrassing.

Piano is so addictive. I tend to forget about everything once start playing. This not AoTW but I wonder if anyone has similar experience.

My AoTW is that my teacher and play my duet piece - the Mozart Sonata for two pianos in D together first time on last Saturday. I told her that I just read through the notes and not ready but she just started. I said I will do it at 76 per eighth notes but then she said "let's try at 120". I said "no i haven't done that yet". She hears nothing of it and said "yes you can". So we tried at 120. There were a few spots that need some work but I was able to pull it through for the most part. This really surprised me. We will eventually get up to 180.

Piano is so addictive. I tend to forget about everything once start playing. This not AoTW but I wonder if anyone has similar experience.

YES!!! It's the only thing I have found that literally takes me away. I sit down at the piano and the next thing I know it's 2, sometimes 3, hours later and I've forgotten everything except the music. It has taught me how to enjoy the journey

I'm working on a trio of pieces by Melody Bober (1st with her) as a little break from classical pieces. The set is called Postcards from Iowa and I'm really enjoying the last piece titled "River Rhapsody". The tempo is named as 144. Hahahahahahha. My Achievement is playing it at 72 with the 7/8 time and the triplets. It is so cool. Maybe by piano recital time in May it'll rhapsody even faster. There's a great video of a professor from Iowa (I think) playing it at speed.

I'm back from my Easter holidays with family; nothing exotic, only in the countryside where my mother-in-law lives. Bad weather (except on Sunday), so a lot of time to play on the really basic DP there is there.

I read the last few days in the thread, and I'be been touched by Saranoya's piece about her recital and her health issues.As others have already said, I think you are really an inspiration to many of us; and I think also that you have good reasons to feel the way you do now. I got into pieces a couple of time in my life, without having any apparently good reason. Tiredness and end-of-winter fatigue can contribute, I hope you can start to feel better soon.

Back to my AOTW: only having practiced more than usual, and my Schumann piece is improving again, it started sounding in the right way (even if much under tempo).

Malkin, I didn't realize there's a whole project. My teacher did get carried away buying all sorts of these music sets. We're each playing one for our next piano recital. What is the goal of the project? Is it connnected with any of the exam systems? Just curious. I'd better go to the piano or my AOTW may be getting up for a cup of coffee.